The L.A. Times music blog

Nicki Minaj's 'Stupid ...' video too hot for TV

February 2, 2012 | 3:48
pm

Add Nicki Minaj to the list of artists with a video deemed “too hot for TV.” The Grammy-nominated rapper is gaining plenty of headlines, and publicity such as this post, for her latest video, “Stupid Hoe,” because of its absence on networks such as BET.

The video for the first track lifted off her highly anticipated -- and recently pushed back -- sophomore disc, “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” apparently got the ax or rejection from the Viacom-owned network.

Though BET hasn’t announced any specific reasons why it’s banned (a rep for the network didn’t return our request for comment) we can take a few guesses as to why the track could be deemed unsuitable for air:

Foul language. Sure, there's plenty of F-bombs in the track that could be easily cleaned up, but that's not all. It could be the numerous uses of the term that doubles for a long-handled gardening tool or a rather unsavory female -- the chorus alone features such a word approximately 16 times –- which is generally frowned upon. Oddly, the chorus contains some of the nicest of the exaggeratedly vulgar insults hurled on the track.

Nudity. This one is debatable. Yes, there is a bare bum and breasts in the clip, but, they are in the form of a Barbie doll that matches Minaj’s infamous assets. Barbie doll nudity is OK, right? It’s a theme that carries into the recently released clip to her surprise hit collaboration with David Guetta, “Turn Me On,” where there is very brief full-frontal plastic mannequin nudity.

Gyrations galore. At one point Minaj morphs from a cheetah into a naughty caged dancer where there are lots of shots of her flaunting those above mentioned assets. This is paired with a few crotch grabs and eyebrow raising gyrations from a bevy of female dancers.

Potential health hazard. The Hype Williams-directed clip opens with a potentially seizure-inducing sequence of flashing neon colors and eye-popping credits. It’s not as aggressive as Williams’ strobe-light filled work on Kanye’s “All of the Lights” (which required a warning).

But before Minaj’s fans boycott BET, the controversial video, seen as a stab at rival Lil Kim with numerous jabs that go for blood (one choice zing: “I’m Angelina, you Jennifer / C’mon … you see where Brad at”), isn’t exactly hurting for viewership -- and not all appear glad to have seen it. The clip has so far garnered more than 22.1 million views on YouTube and broke a viewing record on Vevo after it racked up 4.8 million views within 24 hours of its premiere. However, the clip has a whopping 313,745 dislikes compared to 147,407 likes on YouTube at the time of writing.

“Can't premiere on a network b/c its important that my art is not tampered with, or compromised prior to you viewing it for the 1st time,” Minaj tweeted, making it clear she wasn't interested in cleaning up the clip, which is labeled as explicit on both YouTube and Vevo. And why should she? With outlets such as YouTube and Vevo, a viral video hit could even be more cred-boasting than one on a major network.

Minaj isn’t the first female to draw ire from the network. R&B singers Ciara and Teairra Mari saw videos banned from the network, and Rihanna’s “Man Down” caused quite the stink with advocacy groups for its depiction of murder and rape. However, BET declined to yank the video and instead hosted a dialogue on domestic violence on their popular countdown show "106 & Park."

You can check out the video full of adult language via an easy search, or check below for a super cleaned-up version that unofficially hit the net below.

“Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded” is set for release on April 3 after it was originally slated for Valentine’s Day.